The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet - Colleen McCullough

I finished The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet last night and I'm still not really sure what to make of it.

Definitely a page turner - I have not read any of Colleen McCullough's books before (probably not something a book loving Australian should admit to) so I have nothing of hers to compare the writing or style of this book to. I did have to stop comparing the book to a Jane Austen novel though because that comparison was getting me nowhere!

The premise of the book is that we now get to follow the story of Miss Mary Bennet, 20 years after the end of Pride and Prejudice. The book still however follows the stories of the other Bennet sisters and their illustrious parents and associates. I'm not even completely convinced that Mary Bennet was the focus of the story - and definitely not the Mary Bennet of Jane Austen's story!

The book follows what I thought was a really strange storyline for a "traditional" Austen sequel - kidnappings by religious sects and murder just to name a couple of examples. But maybe that is just the point - McCullough was trying to take the story beyond the traditional.

As I said before - I was completely hooked into this book and finished it quickly - but I had to suspend my belief about this being an Austen story with her traditional characters in order to do so. I would think that Jane Austen purists might have a real problem with this one!

More to Pride and Prejudice?

I have a confession to make... I love to read anything even slightly related to Jane Austen and her novels.

I have a secret dream (maybe not so secret now) that someday a dramatic discovery of a large number of her lost novels will be found and I will not have to read and re-read her only published works over and over again - not that this is really a problem for me!

So, until that dream becomes a reality I grab onto any "sequel" or alternative Jane Austen story that comes along - and today I found a new offering.

The latest novel from a significant Australian author, Colleen McCullough - The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. The information on the book from the publisher says:

Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But what about their sister Mary, she of the atrocious singing voice and the staidly religious bent of mind?
Master storyteller Colleen McCullough paints a life for Mary Bennet twenty years after Jane Austen's novel closes.
So far on in time, each of Mary's sisters is settled in her own way. Happily married Jane is the mother of many children; Elizabeth has to cope with an unwelcome social pre–eminence she had not envisioned; Lydia is still entranced by military officers; and Kitty is one of the stars of London's fashionable salons.
Events transpire that free Mary from her family obligations and dangle the allurements of independence before her hungry gaze. Fired with zeal by the newspaper letters of the mystery man Argus, she resolves to publish a book about the plight of England's poor. Plunging from one predicament into another, Mary embarks upon a mission of investigation that eventually leads her into mortal danger and reveals the surprising identity of Argus.
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet is both a page–turning look at the ongoing lives of the Bennet sisters, and a sparkling romance that shows it is never too late to find love. Abounding with beloved characters in new guises as well as people we have not met before, it is funny, tragic, and eminently satisfying. This is a novel for every woman who has yearned to leave her mark upon the world – Colleen McCullough at her lively best.

I must admit I have not read anything of Colleen McCullough's before but I just couldn't say no to this story.